//------------------------------//
// Ch. 32. Laying the Groundwork 
// Story: If Wishes Were Ponies, Book II 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

Just when he thought things were going his way, the roof caved in. 

The auror raid on Bartemius Crouch Senior’s home had borne fruit. The wizard had freed his son from Azkaban years ago, at his wife’s request, and then kept him under an imperio for nearly eight years. The sheer hypocrisy of that act compared to his refusal to show leniency to any others he sent to Azkaban was breath-taking. Not to mention the abuse of his Ministry position to cover up that act.

Junior’s status as an escaped prisoner had allowed the use of veritaserum, despite the pure-blood laws that protected his father. The Azkaban records of visits had destroyed the father’s blustery protests. There was no rational argument that Senior couldn’t have known about his son’s presence in his own home, and that said son was under an imperio. Nor that he was the one his son identified as his jailor. 

Senior was going to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban for the repeated use of the Unforgiveable. 

Just as soon as his father’s trial was completed on Monday, Junior was scheduled for the Veil as an escaped prisoner.

Bertha was in treatment at St. Mungo’s. The healers thought the prognosis was good that her obliviated memory could be recovered. They were hopeful that most of the damage to her psyche would be reversed when that happened. She still might suffer from some forgetfulness, but nothing like before.

Part of the Crouch estate would go to her as compensation for what Barty Crouch, Senior, had done to her. She wouldn’t be rich, but neither would she be on the edge anymore. The Ministry was picking up her tab at St. Mungo’s. Barty had, after all, obliviated her while she was on official Ministry business. Then he had used his Ministry position to conceal what he had done.

Many of the more nervous Ministry employees were also making appointments at St. Mungo’s to check for clandestine obliviations. This was especially true of Crouch’s former associates and departmental employees.

Plus, based on some of the evidence that Barty Junior had supplied, the Aurors had managed a few raids on previously unsuspected Death Eaters — a few uncovered Death Eater robes and masks. Several of the previously “imperioed” Death Eaters had also been the subject of raids. Again, based on Barty Junior’s evidence — except Albus knew most of that evidence came from another source.

Nothing says guilty, or that you perjured yourself, more than being caught with Death Eater paraphernalia, equipment, and trophies in a secret room under your Drawing Room floor, or other places. Paraphernalia, equipment, and trophies that clearly had seen use in the last ten years since the trials. Especially so, if some of the victims were still alive.

A few more seats on the Wizengamot were . . . indisposed . . . to his opponents.

More people had been turning to Albus for advice in view of his successes.

But now . . . this. 

Dumbledore could only shake his head looking at the Prophet’s headline. Rita had outdone herself this time. Most impressively, she had managed to do it without once implying anything that was untrue. Everything held together quite plausibly, and fit the facts just as accurately. At least, as far as he could tell.

Then there were the other articles about Harry, most also authored by her. She had certainly been a busy bee, without once having to resort to being a bug. Again, at least as far as he could tell. Her copious quotes from witnesses and experts showed that what she had learned was all public knowledge, just not publicly pulled together and published.

There went his plans for the day. He would have to leave Lockhart’s impromptu “special” class to Filius, and hope it was all a big fuss over nothing. Severus, unfortunately, was cleaning up after a potion’s problem this morning. One of the Seventh Year’s students, working on a multi-week potion, had had it go off overnight, and the two were deeply engrossed in recovering the potion without starting all over or taking out that part of the castle in a massive explosion.

Albus would have to set off immediately after breakfast for the Ministry. It would be a time-consuming effort to begin repairing all the damage she had just done to his efforts over the last year. He had convinced many of the fence-sitters that supporting his agenda would be good for country, especially as his agenda would make the Equestrians more likely to stay in their world.

He knew a large number of his conservative and conservative-leaning political supporters would look askance at him as a result of Harry’s apparent loyalty to Atlantis over England. He gave a mental sigh. So would most of his loyal followers, for that matter.

That apparent loyalty threw into doubt just how interested Harry was in staying in England after Hogwarts. He would have to be quite persuasive to keep some of his allies from withdrawing their support. Others, he would just have to write off and hope they didn’t vote against any of his proposals.

Using Harry, as the Boy-Who-Lived, as the mascot for the “Light” Party was an actual liability, at this point. It might even backfire if he tried to pursue it at this time. He could only hope that he could turn that situation around in the future.

Fortunately, he could point out how the Atlanteans had already informed him that there definitely would be more new students next term, and the year after that, too. In fact, he could easily say that unless the Ministry did something that was patently offensive to them, the Atlanteans intended to send students to Hogwarts every year for the foreseeable future.

Which would be a tremendous boost to both the economy and England’s prestige on the world stage — and his own.

Unfortunately, the withdrawal of even some of his support in the Wizengamot made his task of placating the British government that much more difficult. The muggle government was still harping on him to correct the one-sidedness of many of their laws. Fortunately, their complaints about the unfairness of the werewolf-laws had subsided in view of the “cure” being offered by visiting Atlantis at the right time.

At the rate those were going, by summer’s end there wouldn’t be any werewolves in England, or the continent.

Balancing that progress, unfortunately, now, were the stories Rita printed about Harry’s treatment by the Dursleys. Today, he knew, just had to be only the opening salvo of such articles on Harry’s time at the Dursleys. Wizards and witches on both sides of the political arena would be outraged. They would want to punish that family far more than what the muggle government was meting out. The only good he could find in the situation was that the Dursleys were still in one of the Queen’s prisons, and would be for several more years.

The down side to that, though, was with the removal of the original bullies from their reach, the irate wizards and witches might take their desire for vengeance out on other muggles. They would demand the Wizengamot “do something” about the Dursleys.

Then the public, and Wizengamot, would focus on his “adoption” by the Atlanteans. Albus already could foresee many wizards demanding that the adoption be declared illegal, and overturned in favour of a family in England. Dumbledore would quickly point out, of course, that enforcing those rulings would be pretty much impossible, unless they wanted to make the boy wear disapparition-preventing manacles. Making the boy feel like a prisoner would not engender any good feelings about the wizarding world on his part. The Chief Warlock would have to stress how doing anything like that would completely alienate the boy. Harry would scamper off to Atlantis at the first opportunity, to never come back.

The real difficulty for Albus was how Princess Twilight would view the proceedings. The wizards might find themselves cut-off from the single richest source of magic any of them had ever heard of. She might just decide to take her portal to the colonies or continent, and let them benefit!

Hogwarts was not the only magic school in the world.

Plus, Sirius Black was not only one of the Atlantean’s biggest supporters within the Wizengamot, but as Harry’s Godfather and Magical Guardian he would also have final say over anything related to his godson, outside of a criminal court, that is.

Albus could probably count on Sirius to squash any attempt to strike Harry’s status in Atlantis as the adopted child of Princess Twilight. He might even be able to stimie it before the next Wizengamot session.

Which meant his opponents would strike back in other ways — such as blocking his attempts to bring their laws into line with muggle laws.

Then there was the whole quagmire of the Potter seat in the Wizengamot. That would take quite a bit of thought, and work, to straighten out. The pure-bloods, again, would demand something be done. Which, under the circumstances, was rather reasonable. It would be unconscionable for a seat on the Wizengamot be held by someone who was not in England!

They would probably pass a new law declaring that only a citizen of England, who lived in England full-time, could hold a seat on that illustrious body.

Dumbledore had hoped that this wouldn’t become public until the boy left Hogwarts — being proxy for the seat had helped him pass several laws in the past. The only reason he hadn’t handed it over to Sirius when he officially took over Guardianship of the boy was because each member could only vote one seat. Thus, Dumbledore, having no Wizengamot seat, kept it to vote with Sirius.

Dumbledore’s vote in the Wizengamot as Chief Warlock would only be called in the event of a tie. Something that hadn’t happened in decades. In fact, his holding the seat made ties impossible. If a tie vote occurred, then turning to him for the tie-breaker automatically disqualified the Potter-seat vote, removing the tie.

So, probably at the next Wizengamot General meeting, there would be a motion presented to remove the Potter family’s seat on the Wizengamot and replace it with another. The whole process would take months, though. Just removing the seat from the Potters would take several sessions as the sides for and against argued their points. The bureaucracy would slowly grind on as other motions to precedence, and procedural attempts to stall the final vote took place.

Such a revocation would require a new family be proposed by the Minister. His proposal would then be voted by the Wizengamot. If the proposed family was accepted, then the seat would be transferred from the Potters to the new family. 

However, the Potter family connection to the Black family, a pure-blood family, and Sirius being his godfather, changed a few things. The Black family already had a seat on the Wizengamot, so they couldn’t keep the additional seat. It would need to be passed to another family, preferably a pure-blooded one. 

Which meant Sirius would have the right to decide on who would get the seat, not Cornelius Fudge. All the Wizengamot could do was vote up or down on the suggested family. He could take as long as he wanted before suggesting a candidate family. He couldn’t stall forever, but it would be many months before the seat finally changed hands.

In the meantime, Dumbledore would continue to vote as proxy in the seat. 

He wondered how he might keep that seat’s vote under his control?

He stared at the group of second years, noting who sat where, and how they were interacting. He noted Ginny Weasley was seated quite close to the boy. Perhaps the Weasleys could provide a way through the morass? Sirius would have a difficult time refusing his suggestion to award the seat to Arthur, if there was a connection between Harry and Miss Weasley. The family was pure-blood, after all.

It wouldn’t even have to be all that solid a connection, at this point. He could point out how disappointed the boy, and the Princess, might be if Sirius gave the seat to another family. Maybe not this year, but in five years? Sirius was savvy enough in politics to see the advantages of getting in on the good side of the Atlantean royalty.

The three girls from Equestria had made no secret of their intentions towards Harry. According to his sources, the three regarded Harry as theirs. That the boy was oblivious to their machinations was clear to anyone who met the group. That they had allowed both Miss Weasley and the muggle girl, Miss Granger, into the group was a bit of a surprise. However, as he had learned, the Equestrians had a tradition of polygamy, multiple wives to one husband, so there was that.

Miss Weasley working her way into the group wasn’t that much of a surprise. Despite wizarding society’s lip-service to monogamy, it was a poorly kept secret that rich wizards had mistresses. As any perusal of The Daily Prophet’s social section would make clear. 

With Ginny’s own family’s history of barely scraping by, it was no mystery why she had set her sights on Harry to avoid a continuation of that lifestyle.

Plus, her mother had made sure that the girl had grown up on stories about the heroic boy. He smiled softly. The books about young Harry being a hero had made him the idol of all the little witches — Molly had just watered that plant a bit more than most mothers. She had fed the girl a steady stream of how the two of them would be perfect for each other, how the boy would never be able to resist such a wonderful witch as Ginny.

The Potter family had been well-to-do — not extremely wealthy, but more than enough to allow them to live quite comfortably. That alone would have been enough to attract the witch to the boy, even without his heroic reputation. 

Harry’s return to wizarding society as a powerhouse of magic — animagus ability, apparition mastery, etc. — made him even more attractive to her. He might not be the hero of her books, but he was head and shoulders above his competition — even if he was the shortest boy in both First and Second Years. 

Plus, with his connection to the Princess, and his own title as a Prince, she wouldn’t have to worry about finances in her, or her children’s, future.

He had to wonder, though, had the Princesses “encouraged” the three girls to be “open” to adding one or two English witches? Having Royal family connections on both sides of the portal could be very advantageous to them, politically. Just as it could for the wizards and witches on this side of the portal. The three had seemed rather quick to add the other two girls to their casual group.

The Weasley family had certainly seen profit in that connection, already, nebulous though it was at present. Albus knew, from their repeated invites to the palace in Ponyville, that it would only grow. Plus, while the children had claimed they had only brought a few gems back, the goblins had acted more as if they had brought back gems by the tens of pounds!

To the wizarding world, the Weasley’s now had a reputation as a powerful wizarding family. That was thanks to the discovery that all the children were animagi, with two of them accomplishing it before they started Hogwarts. No other family could boast such an accomplishment. That the mother was one, too, had come as a shock when she officially registered. She had said, at the time, that she hadn’t really been interested in the ability until her children had all started using it, so she had changed, too.

Before last year, the family had been looked down on as an old wizarding family that had fallen on hard times, just barely above poverty. Their having so many children was also a bit of a detriment to the more conservative families. Many children meant the inheritances would be equally small. Plus, there was the possibility of the family falling into dispute with itself as the children squabbled over the estate when the parents died.

However, the sudden spending coming from the family seemed to indicate that their fortunes had changed rather dramatically, recently. Backing up this impression was how they were treated, now, when they entered Gringotts. Many had noted that the goblins were . . . more attentive . . . less condescending . . . than they normally acted. It was almost as if they hoped to gain something.

Then, this year, Mr. Malfoy had made no secret that his latest venture — a very profitable one, too, he claimed — was a partnership with Fred and George Weasley. Formerly, he had made only disparaging remarks about the family, remarks emphasizing their large family, poor finances, and lack of proper respect for wizarding customs and manners.

He had been especially critical of their support for half-bloods, muggle-born, muggles, and other creatures that he felt were beneath aa wizard’s dignity to discuss in public. He had even called them blood-traitors, although that was usually only in private.

The discovery of Atlantis, a country of wizards and witches who could claim no squibs, muggle-born, or even muggles in their family history for several thousand years, put his views into a different perspective. If the Atlanteans were to use his attitude towards the English wizards and witches, then, to the Atlanteans, he and they were only marginally above house-elves!

Especially as every single one of them were accomplished at becoming animagi before they started schooling. Add in that many said they had been casting spells without wands for several years before coming through the portal? Without the help of a wand? Saying they were coming to Hogwarts to learn wanded magic, as opposed to the wandless magic they could already do, merely reinforced how they could build up a wizarding family’s magic if they were to marry into it.

Yes, the change in fortunes for the Weasley family was very dramatic. Their appearance of magical prowess would make many think twice before advocating to Sirius against giving the family a seat on the Wizengamot. With Arthur’s affable attitude at the Ministry, there were very few who would vote against him based on his personality. Malfoy’s apparent change in attitude towards the family would also make many carefully consider their vote.

All Albus had to do was hang on until the old-conservative families had a few sons or daughters married to Atlanteans. Once that started to happen, it would become much easier to sway them to his point of view. The opposition to Harry being primarily in Atlantis would diminish as the conservatives developed their own ties to that country.

Well, at least Director Bones was here. He finished off his plate, dabbed his mouth with his napkin, and stood. Leaning over, he said to Minerva, “I have business at the Ministry I must attend to. I won’t be back until late.” 

She glanced at the newsparchment and shook her head. “I’ll tend to things.”

He regally straightened, and strode to the Professor’s Door, and thence to his office to floo to the Ministry.


^-~-^


Castor could see that Jackson knew he was in for a struggle when he walked into the meeting room and saw one person and three ponies seated at the table, but he didn’t show that. The man just smiled and nodded companionably. 

William Jackson, a tall, dark-haired man with brown eyes, was one of the top negotiators for The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers — USDAW, for short.

Castor stood. “Thank you for coming. I am Castor James Searle, Retired, SAS, and I am the . . . translator today.” He leaned over the table and shook his hand.

William gave him a curious look.

Castor smiled. “Yes, the Equestrian speak English quite well, however there are many nuances to British culture with which they are unfamiliar. I have been assigned by Her Majesty’s government to explain anything they might find confusing. Head off problems of miscommunication, you might say.”

William nodded. “I see,” he said softly.

Castor turned to his left pointed to the middle of the three ponies. “This is, as I am sure you recognise from photos, is Princess Twilight Sparkle. On her far side is Applejack.”

Applejack leaned across . . . well no, she got up and walked across the table and held out her hoof. “Howdy,” she declared cheerfully.

The union representative looked confused, and he glanced at Castor. Castor leaned back to get out of Applejack’s eyesight. He made fists of his hands and pantomimed bumping them together.

William flicked his eyes back to Applejack, smiled, and fist-bumped her. “The pleasure is all mine,” he said.

“And on this is Lemony Gem, she will be in-charge of the facility” Castor finished, as Applejack returned to her pillowed seat. He pointed to the yellow unicorn with two shades of cornflower blue colouring her mane and tail. She was also wearing a pink saddle and lighter-coloured pink skirt. 

She, too, hopped up on the table and repeated Applejack’s hoof-bump. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

Willian smiled, nodded, and murmured a polite, “Nice to meet you, too.”

Castor saw his eyes briefly scan across the three folders on the table, one in front of each pony. He pulled out his chair and sat. He opened his briefcase, took out a pad of paper and a pen, and looked inquisitively at Twilight.

If the man was phased by meeting royalty, or aliens, he hid it well. 

Princess Twilight leaned forward slightly. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about the portal that we’re setting up here, in Blackpool. Unlike the portal at the Embassy, this one is for cargo, only. No beings or animals will travel through it.”

“Yes, the newspapers have been quite excited about the employment prospects,” William acknowledged.

Twilight nodded. “The buildings are complete, now, and we’re beginning to move in the equipment necessary to support the transport of large amounts of material through the portal. The railroad spur and roadway alterations are nearly complete — ahead of schedule, actually,” she gave a pleased smile.

“Now, then, we expect to employ a significant number of people here, and want things to proceed as smoothly as possible. Which is why I’ve asked for you to meet with us today.”

There wasn’t much he could say to that.

“I’ve been doing a little reading on the trade unions in Britain . . .,”

Applejack rolled her eyes and murmured, “only if you call a stack of books that reaches the library ceiling, little.” She shook her head as she said that.

Castor saw Williams raise his eyebrows slightly.

“And I must say I am impressed with what they have accomplished.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand, though, why the companies that employed the workers were so against what the workers were asking. I mean . . . it’s just common sense, right?” She turned and looked Castor.

All he could do was shrug.

“In Equestria, workers and employers work closely with each other. Workers bring any problems to management that the management might have overlooked, or weren’t aware that an issue had come up.” She paused and looked at the man.

He had a pleasant and slightly curious air as he returned her gaze.

She sighed. “Anyway,” she continued. “Given your unions reputation for handling problems without disrupting business, I think having The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers onboard when we start hiring would be an excellent idea. As the largest trade union, it’ll give us a unique opportunity to improve conditions in all of England!”

Both of William’s eyebrows arched up.

“Improve? Improve for whom?” he said suspiciously.

Twilight blinked at him, surprised at the question. “Why, everyone, of course!” She shuffled some papers in the folder in front of her. “For example, according to law, eligible employees can receive maternity pay of about ninety percent for up to thirty-nine weeks, about nine months.”

Applejack interrupted, “Yeah, I don’t understand that. I mean when Ma had Apple Bloom, she was back to bucking trees a week later.”

William frowned at the orange pony.

“Ah, allow me to explain,” interjected Castor. “That’s a physical difference, Applejack. Unlike Apple Bloom, human babies don’t start walking their first day. Human babies usually start walking anywhere between nine and sixteen months, and become verbal at two years, not two months.”

Applejack stared at him. “Yer jokin’, right?” she said, appalled.

Both Twilight and Castor shook their heads.

The union man was giving him an incredulous look.

Applejack opened her folder and began reading, frowning heavily.

Castor looked over to William. “Pony babies, foals, are capable of walking and running moments after birth, and begin saying individual words at one month.”

The man nodded slowly, and made notes on his pad.

Twilight cleared her throat and nodded. “In Equestria, giving a pony thirty-nine weeks off wouldn’t work. The ponies would just come in anyway, after a month or two.” She shuffled her papers. “Besides, the company’s play area for the babies gives them excellent supervision and the mothers can visit any time, anyway. Which is what we planned to do here, too, by the way.

“However, here, on this side of the portal, it is obvious that . . . babies need far more time with their mothers, so I can easily see them staying out the entire time.” She got a pensieve look. “Although Mrs Cake did mention that having work to go to was such a relief while her husband took the twins, so maybe not.”

“Anyway, I think we need to make it clear to the employees that maternity leave is at their discretion. If they don’t want the full time, they don’t have to take it.”

The union negotiator gave her an incredulous look.

She shook her head sadly. “This pay, though . . . ninety percent? That has to go.”

William looked ready to speak, but she continued before he could say anything.

“It should be one-hundred percent. To make up the difference, I’ll petition Parliament to excuse part of the payroll taxes an employer would pay, or reduce the total revenue tax by that amount.”

He leaned back; surprise evident in his expression.

“I think there should be an exception on taking the maternity leave early. It should start at a doctor’s discretion. Some mares have extremely difficult pregnancies months before the due date.”

Castor and William were giving Twilight surprised looks. William was making almost continuous notes, now.

“Next, paternity leave. That is simply right out.”

Again, William looked ready to object.

“It should be at least two weeks before and four weeks after, that’s what it usually is in Equestria. The mother needs the father’s support, after all.” She paused and looked at her folder. “Especially considering how dependent the babies are, here. I’ve been told having foals is extremely stressful. It certainly looks like it’s uncomfortable in the extreme.” She gave William a stern look. “And no, it won’t be voluntary. He has to take that time off. Also, antenatal appointments with the doctors will be covered for both parents.”

William slowly nodded.

“Sick leave.” She shook her head. “With the new ‘special technology’ the government is rolling out in the hospitals, I don’t see that being much of an issue.” She smiled happily. “Even if you lose a leg, somehow, you can grow a new one in a few days. As for cancer and other aliments? Cures for most of those are in the works.”

William was writing furiously.

“So, full pay for any illness for the week they’ll miss work should be adequate.” She smiled, again. “We learned a long time ago that it is more efficient for workers to visit a doctor when they feel sick rather than go to work and make everyone else sick, too. You think you have the flu? Go to the doctor to get treatment instead of work.”

“Next,” she continued, “There’s time an employee takes off to look after a dependant, or sick relative. Again, with the new techniques coming out, I can’t see that as a real issue, so maybe a week again. We’ll have to wait and see how that works out.”

She sighed. “Which brings us to time off for an employee following the death of a loved one. I suggest two weeks, although taking it should be at the discretion of the employee. Many ponies claim they would rather be at work rather than moping at home. I don’t know how it is here, so I’m open to suggestions.” She paused and bit her lip, obviously thinking. Applejack was staring at one of the painting on the opposite wall.

Twilight took a deep breath. “Finally, there are the yearly vacations. The government mandates workers to five weeks and three days — twenty-eight work-days a year, including the UK’s eight bank holidays.” She shook her head. “I have nothing to say about that.” She looked at William. “During the summer vacation, we will need the facility in operation, so any suggestions on how to do that would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps some employees would like their vacations at times other than the summer and they could work the summer hours?” She waggled her head. “I don’t know how that works here.”

She ruffled her wings. “So, that’s what we’re thinking right now. As I said, I’d prefer your union for all our employees, so if you could get back to us next week with a proposed contract, that would be very helpful. We also need some idea of what the union wages and dues will be. You’ve got far more experience with what works here than we do.”

Willian looked rather shell-shocked as he left, although he tried to hide it. Castor grinned as he left the room. He’d probably never heard of a negotiation where the employer not only wasn’t crying foul, but was actually trying to top what the Trade Union would normally demand.

Audrey Wise, the current president of the union, was going to be shocked when William reported what had happened in the meeting.


^---^